Totally agree here that what’s interesting is the ways in which things turn out well due to agency rather than luck. Of course if things turn out well, it’s likely to be in part due to luck — but as you say that’s less useful to focus on. We’ll think about whether it’s worth tweaking the rules a bit to emphasize this.
Thanks! I think explaining the problem to the contestants might go a long way. You could also just announce that realism (about unchangeable background variables, not about actions taken) is an important part of the judging criteria, and that submissions will be graded harshly if they seem to be “playing on easy mode.” EDIT: Much more important than informing the contestants though is informing the people who are trying to learn from this experiment. If you are (for example) going to be inspired by some of these visions and work to achieve them in the real world… you’d better make sure the vision wasn’t playing on easy mode!
Totally agree here that what’s interesting is the ways in which things turn out well due to agency rather than luck. Of course if things turn out well, it’s likely to be in part due to luck — but as you say that’s less useful to focus on. We’ll think about whether it’s worth tweaking the rules a bit to emphasize this.
Thanks! I think explaining the problem to the contestants might go a long way. You could also just announce that realism (about unchangeable background variables, not about actions taken) is an important part of the judging criteria, and that submissions will be graded harshly if they seem to be “playing on easy mode.” EDIT: Much more important than informing the contestants though is informing the people who are trying to learn from this experiment. If you are (for example) going to be inspired by some of these visions and work to achieve them in the real world… you’d better make sure the vision wasn’t playing on easy mode!